Ring

VIEW:31 DATA:01-04-2020

RING.—See Ornaments, 2, 4. In Son_5:14 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘cylinder’ is preferable to EV [Note: English Version.] ‘ring,’ the comparison being probably with the fingers of the hand.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909

tabaath, "to impress with a seal." (See EARRING.) Used as "a signet" (Gen_38:18, chothem), worn on the hand, or suspended, as the Arabs do, by a cord from the neck. Pharaoh's transfer of his ring from his finger to Joseph betokened his investing him with royal authority (Gen_41:42; a device, as the beetle or the owner's name, was engraven on it, Exo_28:11). So Ahasuerus in the case of Haman (Est_3:8-10), and Mordecai (Est_8:2). In Luk_15:22 it is the father's token of favor, dignity, and sonship to the prodigal; Roman slaves wore no gold rings. We are no longer slaves, but God's free sons when we believe, and receive the Holy Spirit as the pledge of sonship and earnest of sharing the Father's glory (Gal_4:3-7). Rich men (especially Romans of the equestrian order, whose badge the ring was) wore many rings on the left hand (Jas_2:2). Greek "golden-ringed," not merely with one ring.
Christians derived the usage of the wedding ring from the Jews. The ring was treasured much, and so symbolizes what is most precious to us (Jer_22:24, Jehoiachin's popularity is alluded to); the signet ring was worn on the right hand (contrast Hag_2:23). A costly sacrifice to the Lord (Exo_35:22). Son_5:14, "his hands" bent are compared to "rings" in which "beryls" are set, as the nails in the fingers; compare as to our names being "sealed" upon His heart, Son_8:6, and palms, Isa_49:16. The bride desires herself to be a signet ring on His arm. God in turn seals us with His signet (Rev_7:2-4), "I will make thee as a signet" (Hag_2:23), i.e. an object of constant regard, as the ring is ever before the eye. Christ the Antitype is always in the Father's presence, ever pleasing in His sight; so we, through Him our representative. The signet represents legally the owner; so Christ wields the Father's delegated authority (Mat_28:18; Joh_5:22-23).
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.

Ring. The ring was regarded as an indispensable article of a Hebrew's attire, inasmuch as it contained his signet. It was, hence, the symbol of authority. Gen_41:42; Est_3:10. Rings were worn, not only by men, but by women. Isa_3:21. We may conclude from Exo_28:11 that the rings contained a stone engraven with a device, or with the owner's name. The custom appears also to have prevailed among the Jews of the apostolic age. Jas_2:2.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863

(Anglo-Saxon, Hring, ?ring?): The word renders (the American Standard Revised Version) two Hebrew words (in the King James Version and the English Revised Version three) and two Greek words. טבּעת, ṭabba‛ath, the principal Hebrew word, is from טבע, ṭābha‛, ?sink,? either because the ring is something ?cast? or molded, or, more probably, since the principal use of the ring was as a seal, because it ?sank? into the wax or clay that received the impression. In Exodus, ṭabba‛ath, ?ring,? is a detail of furniture or equipment, as the rings of the ark through which the staves were thrust (Exo_25:12, etc.), rings for curtains, in the high priest's ephod (Exo_28:28; Exo_39:21), etc. Its other use was perhaps the original, to describe the article of personal adornment worn on the finger, apparently in the Old Testament always a signet-ring, and as such an indispensable article of masculine attire. Such a ring Pharaoh gave Joseph as a symbol of authority (Gen_41:42); and Ahasuerus gave Haman (Est_3:10); with it the royal missive was sealed (Est_3:12; Est_8:8 twice, 10). It was also a feminine ornament in Isaiah's list of the fashionable feminine paraphernalia, ?the rings and the nose-jewels? (quite likely rings also) (Isa_3:21). Either as ornaments or for their intrinsic value, or both, rings were used as gifts for sacred purposes from both men and women: ?brooches, and ear-rings, and signet-rings? (margin ?nose-rings?) (Exo_35:22); ?bracelets, rings (the American Standard Revised Version ?signet-rings?), ear-rings? (Num_31:50 the King James Version). חותם, ḥōthām, ?signet,? mentioned in Gen_38:18, Gen_38:25; Exo_28:11, Exo_28:21, Exo_28:36; Exo_39:6, Exo_39:14, Exo_39:30; Jer_22:24; Hag_2:23, etc., was probably usually a seal ring, but in Gen 38 and elsewhere the seal may have been swung on wire, and suspended by a cord from the neck. It was not only an identification, but served as a stamp for signature. גּליל, gālı̄l, ?circle? (compare ?Galilee,? ?Circle? of the Gentiles), rendered ?ring? in Est_1:6; Son_5:14, may rather mean ?cylinder? or ?rod? of metal. Earring (which see) in the King James Version is from totally different words: נזם, nezem, whose etymology is unknown, עגיל, ‛āghı̄l, ?round,? or לחשׁ, laḥash, ?amulet?; so the Revised Version (British and American). The ?rings? of the wheels in Eze_1:18 (the King James Version) are גּב, gabh, ?curved,? and mean ?rims? (American Standard Revised Version), ?felloes.? Egyptians especially wore a great profusion of rings, principally of silver or gold, engraved with scarabaei, or other devices. In the New Testament the ring, δακτύλιος, daktúlios, ?finger-ring,? is a token of means, position, standing: ?put a ring on his hand? (Luk_15:22). Perhaps also it included the right to give orders in his father's name. To be χρυσοδακτύλιος, chrusodaktúlios, ?golden-ringed,? perhaps with more than one, indicated wealth and social rank: ?a man with a gold ring? (Jam_2:2). See also EARRING; SIGNET; SEAL.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.

Son_5:14 (a) This is a type of the pure and perfect care which our Lord exercises over His bride because of the intimate relationship between them. It tells of an eternal devotion, which will never be broken. It tells of divine care, which is always sufficient. It tells of the beautiful love that is indescribable, and constant, without end.

Eze_1:18 (a) It seems that the rings are synonymous with the wheels. They are a picture of GOD in action, progress, motivations from Heaven. The eyes indicate the Holy Spirit, who is Himself always intimately associated with all the works of GOD the Father and of GOD the Son. Their height indicates the magnificence and the greatness of the unsearchable ways of GOD. When we see the might and the majesty of His work in creation, and of His power in keeping the universe in order, this strikes us with awe.

Luk_15:22 (b) Here we see a token of the relationship between the Father and His child. It is a public acknowledgment from GOD that this one is His Child and His Son. It is a mark of identification in regard to relationship, as well as authority.
Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types
press 1957.

Ring
(usually טִבִּעִת, tabba'ath; δάκτυλος, occasionally גָּליל, galil, a circlet for the fingers, Est_1:6; Son_5:14, גָּב, gab, a rim of a wheel, Eze_1:18). The ring was regarded as an indispensable article of a Hebrew's attire, inasmuch as it contained his signet, and even owed its name to this circumstance, the term tabbaath being derived from a root signifying “to impress a seal.” It was hence the symbol of authority, and as such was presented by Pharaoh to Joseph (Gen_41:42), by Ahasuerus to Haman (Est_3:10), by Antiochus to Philip (1Ma_6:15), and by the father to the prodigal son in the parable (Luk_15:22). It was treasured accordingly, and became a proverbial expression for a most valued object (Jer_22:24; Hag_2:23; Ecclesiastes 49:11). Such rings were worn not only by men, but by women (Isa_3:21; Mishna, Sabb. 6, § 3), and are enumerated among the articles presented by men and women for the service of the tabernacle (Exo_35:22). The signet ring was worn on the right hand (Jeremiah loc. cit.). We may conclude, from Exo_28:11, that the rings contained a stone engraven with a device, or with the owner's name. SEE ORNAMENT.
The ancient Egyptians wore many rings, sometimes two and three on the same finger. The left was considered the hand peculiarly privileged to bear those ornaments; and it is remarkable that its third finger was decorated with a greater number than any other, and was considered by them, as by us, par excellence the ring finger, though there is no evidence of its having been so honored at the marriage ceremony. They even wore a ring on the thumb. Some rings were very simple; others were made with a scarabaeus, or an engraved stone; and they were occasionally in the form of a shell, a knot, a snake, or some fancy device. They were mostly of gold, and this metal seems to have always been preferred to silver for rings. Silver rings, however, are occasionally met with. Bronze was seldom used for rings, though frequently for signets. Some have been discovered of brass and iron (the latter of a Roman time); but ivory and blue porcelain were the materials of which those worn by the lower classes were usually made. The scarabaeus was the favorite form for rings; in some the stone, flat on both faces, turned on pins, like many of our seals at the present day, and the ring itself was bound round at each end, where it was inserted into the stone, with gold wire. This was common not only to rings, but to signets, and was intended for ornament as well as security. Numerous specimens of Egyptian rings have been discovered, most of them made of gold, very massive, and containing either a scarabaeus or an engraved stone (Wilkinson, Anc. Egypt. 2, 337). The ancient Assyrians seem to have been equally fond of similar ornaments. The same profusion was exhibited also by the Greeks and Romans, particularly by men (Smith, Dict. of Antiq. s.v. “Rings”). It appears also to have prevailed among the Jews of the apostolic age; for in Jam_2:2, a rich man is described as χρυσοδακτύλιος, meaning not simply “with a gold ring,” as in the A.V., but “golden-ringed” (like the χρυσόχειρ, “golden-handed,” of Lucian, Timon, 20), implying equally well the presence of several gold rings. SEE JEWEL.
The principal information we have about ancient rings is derived from Pliny. He says that Alexander the Great sealed all important documents in Europe with his own ring, and in Asia with that of Darius. He states that the Romans derived the custom of wearing rings from the Sabines, and they from the Greeks; hence there occurs no mention of Roman rings earlier than the reign of Numa Pompilius. The rings then worn were generally of iron, and sometimes engraved. In process of time silver rings were adopted by free citizens, and those of iron were abandoned to slaves. Gold rings could, in the earlier ages of the republic, only be worn by senators; and even in their case the use of the gold ring was to be confined to public occasions. Marius, in his third consulate, is said to have worn one habitually; but if this account be correct, it must have been a ring of some special kind, for more than a century earlier the equestrian order had the privilege of wearing gold rings, since Hannibal, after the battle of Cannae, sent as a trophy to Carthage three bushels of gold rings, taken from the fingers of the Roman knights slain in the battle. It is clear that the equestrian ring was not allowed to be indiscriminately worn, for Horace informs us that he did so himself by the express permission of Augustus (Horace, Sat. 2, 7, 54). It may be that the passage in James's epistle refers to the equestrian ring as a token of Roman rank. The ring was generally worn on the fourth finger of the left hand, and Aulus Gellius gives as a reason for this that there is a vein from that finger running directly to the heart. To wear rings on the right hand was regarded as a mark of effeminacy, but they were not unfrequently worn in considerable numbers on the left. This was a practice among men of fashion at Rome (Martial, Epig. 11, 60), as it had been at Athens so far back as the age of Aristophanes (Aristoph. Nubes). Lampridius informs us that Heliogabalus, whose fingers were always covered with rings, never wore the same twice; and a part of the foppery of the age consisted in having rings of different weights for summer and winter. Wedding rings, often of large size, were in use among the Jews, and from them Christians have borrowed the practice; and the ring has from a very early period formed a part of the episcopal costume, as indicating that the bishop was wedded to his Church. So long ago as the Council of Toledo (A.D. 633), a deposed bishop was restored by returning to him his episcopal ring. SEE SIGNET.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.

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